


From Above

by CasualDanger



Series: Sniper in the City [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-21
Updated: 2014-12-15
Packaged: 2018-02-26 11:32:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2650472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CasualDanger/pseuds/CasualDanger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray's a part of the team, but mostly in name. They don't know how to act around him, and he doesn't know how to act around them.</p>
<p>A heist should fix that, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, this is the second story in the GTA-AU series I've got going on. May take me a little longer than the first one, but we'll see. Hope you enjoy!

Ray awoke with a startled gasp for the third time that week. It was the first week he wasn’t bumming it in Gavin’s room, forcing the other to sleep in Michael’s apartment (not that Ray thought either of the two minded at all). Now, Ray was set up down the hall from the two lads, with Jack and Ryan’s rooms a floor below and Geoff’s penthouse a floor above. He felt both comforted and threatened by their proximity; everyone had started tip-toeing around him once he was able to walk without wincing. Michael had stopped coming to hover over him and had instead started to avoid Ray, probably to give him space in case Ray didn’t want to see him. To Ray, it felt like he was the awful reminder for Michael, so he too decided to give the other space. Geoff had halted heists for the time being, and Ray avoided his gaze out of guilt for their delay. By day six, Jack was concerned about it enough to rally Geoff and Ryan in her apartment to talk about what they should do about it.

“We should let Michael handle it,” Geoff said, taking a swig of the beer he was bribed with. “They’re the two that know each other.”

“But Michael’s not doing shit,” Ryan rebutted. “He’s using Gavin as a buffer so he and Ray never have to actually talk.”

“Let’s not put it all on Michael,” Jack said. “Ray’s avoiding all of us. He just stays in his room unless all five of us are somewhere and being loud as shit.”

“He likes being invisible,” Ryan defended. “Do you blame him?”

“Okay, assholes, we are not fighting about this,” Geoff said. “I’ll take care of it; Papa Geoff to the rescue.”

Jack snorted derisively, but put her hand on Geoff’s shoulder. “Thanks, Geoff.”

Geoff downed his beer and stood up to leave. “Yeah, yeah,” he waved, getting to the door.

“And a heist, soon!” Ryan called after him. “I’m thirsting for both blood and money, in that order.”

“Creepy motherfucker,” Geoff muttered as he shut the door behind him. Sighing loudly, he took the stairs up to Ray’s floor. It was early, earlier than he knew Gavin woke up in any case, so he didn’t expect an answer when he knocked on Ray’s door, but almost immediately it was opened. Ray looked nervous and incredibly tired, dark circles under wide eyes.

“Geoff, do you need something?”

Geoff was surprised again as he always was by the deepness of Ray’s voice, and he had to shake that off to respond. “No, no. I was just wondering how you were feeling.”

Ray straightened. “I’m all healed up, ready for anything you want.” He winced at his wording, then shrugged. “Eh, I’ll leave it,” he said.

Geoff laughed. “Yeah, okay. Ryan’s being a dickhole about the lack of heists, anyway. If you’re up for it, we’ll plan tonight in my place. 

Ray nodded and gave half a smile. Geoff went to leave, but Ray touched his arm quickly. As soon as Geoff stopped, Ray took his hand away.

“How is Ryan, by the way? I haven’t really gotten a chance to thank him. Michael told me he was the one that figured out where I was.”

Geoff smiled brightly. “Got a crush on the Mad King, Ray?”

Ray chuckled. “Well, I’ve been called a queen before, so why not,” he said self-deprecatingly. Geoff laughed for a while, and then remembered he had a question to answer.

“If you really want to know how Ryan is, I suggest asking him, Ray.” He went to put a hand on Ray’s shoulder, like he would if it were Gavin or any one of the others, but wasn’t sure how it would be received so he backed off instead. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Right, see you tonight,” Ray echoed weakly as Geoff walked down the hall.


	2. Chapter 2

Gavin walked in sheepishly to Geoff’s apartment, causing the others to all look up and cheer sarcastically.

“Alright, now that everyone’s _here_ ,” Geoff said, “let’s get started. Jack, I believe it’s your turn to take charge of the heist?”

Jack smiled and stood up. “Indeed it is.” She paused for dramatic effect. “We’re going to hit an armored car.”

“We did that already,” Ryan griped.

“Well, if you’d shut up, I could tell you that we’re going to do it without the car ever stopping.” Ryan shut up quickly. Jack laughed at his gaping mouth. “Pit Bull Securities is too shady a company to work for a bank, so they’re working for RWBY.”

“The gang over on Juniper Island?” Michael asked. “What are they doing getting money in Los Santos?”

“They’ve started coming onto the mainland over in Malibu. The trucks go through Los Santos with their drug money. Now, Pit Bull has been paid off, but I’m willing to bet not well enough. If we can open the back doors quietly, we can get in and out without the driver noticing.”

“You can’t blow doors quietly, Jack,” Michael said. “Trust me; they don’t put silencers on sticky bombs.”

“But they _do_ put silencers on high-caliber, heavy rifles,” Jack crowed triumphantly.

Everyone turned to Ray, perched off to the side on a chair in the kitchen. He gulped harshly at the attention, but when he spoke his voice was deceptively lax and calm.

“You want me to shoot at the back of an armored car?” he asked. “Aren’t they kind of . . . _armored_ against that?”

Michael and Gavin burst into laughter, falling over themselves on the couch and calling Jack an idiot. Their amusement sparked a small, proud smile from Ray, which made Ryan grin when he saw it.

Geoff sighed long-sufferingly. “The kid has a point, Jack. You might want to explain this a little.”

“Just bear with me,” Jack said. “A heavy enough bullet will dent the armor. However, the back doors have a locking mechanism in a box on the outside, in case something in the truck malfunctions. Because of how small the box is, the armor is less effective, and you can actually punch a hole in the metal with a badass enough gun. Which Geoff can get us. Once we hit that target, you’ll be able to just open the back doors. And, if we’re quiet enough, we can take the money without the driver noticing. Geoff will be driving behind the truck, Michael and Ryan will move from Geoff’s car to the truck, grab the money, then hop back into Geoff’s car. Gavin will be on the ground, too, helping us locate the car in the first place, and Ray will be in the chopper with me, obviously. The truck will get to its destination seemingly untouched, and nothing can trace back to us when they find it’s empty.”

“Can we go back to the part where Ray fires a single shot from a helicopter and hits a five inch target?” Michael asks incredulously. “I mean, I’ve never seen your work,” he said, turning to Ray, “but I don’t know if that’s even possible.”

“Kid,” Geoff said, turning as well, “you think you can do it?”

Ray had two options, yes or no, and yet it felt more complicated than that. Admitting that he wasn’t sure if he could pull that shot off meant admitting there was no place for him, no usefulness unique enough to keep him here and safe and alive. Saying no meant that he was still that boy close enough to Michael’s genes to make him a plaything for Michael’s father.

“I got it,” he said, meeting Geoff’s eyes. “If you give me the gun, I can make the shot.”

Gavin cheered dramatically, then stood. “Lovely! Now, can we all break for dinner? I’m starving.”

The group went to disband, but Geoff held two of them back. “Ray, Ryan,” he called. “Don’t you think we should have masks?”

Ryan grinned and turned to the younger man. “I know just the place; it should still be open,” he said, and Ray followed him out of the apartment.

“You sly dog,” Jack said, and Geoff giggled mercilessly.

“You’d have to be an idiot not to see that coming,” Geoff said, “but Ryan _is_ pretty dumb when it comes to shit like this. He needs a push.”

Jack nodded her head in exasperated amusement. “I’ll admit, Ryan’s got a soft spot for Ray, but who knows what the hell Ray is thinking?”

Geoff was suddenly serious. “I know,” he said. “We’re going to fix that.”

“If you say so, boss,” Jack sighed.

Meanwhile, Ray and Ryan sat in silence, pleased and comfortable for Ryan, tense and anticipatory for Ray. He wanted to thank Ryan for getting him out of that hole in the ground, for calming him down and carrying him, but bringing it up seemed like an insurmountable task, and Ray was afraid that Ryan and the others just wanted him to forget about what happened. After all, they were _his_ problems. Burdening Ryan with carrying them once more – even for a moment – felt like it should be unforgiveable.

“Ray,” Ryan said. Ray snapped out of his reverie to see that they had stopped moving at the pier, in front of a tiny shop with masks on display. Ryan was looking at him worriedly, hand hovering just above Ray’s shoulder.

Ray blushed. “Sorry, dude. Guess I blazed it too hard.”

Ryan chuckled. “If you say so. This is my favorite store in all of Los Santos. Great masks.”

Ray smiled as they both got out of the car. “It’s hard to beat your usual mask,” he teased.

Ryan turned and winked exaggeratedly at Ray. “It _is_ a pretty handsome skull,” he said, “but we gotta get special ones for the crew. First heist with the new guy.”

Ray laughed along nervously; Ryan didn’t seem to notice, focused only on the fact that there was a laugh and a smile, and they were pointed towards him.  


	3. Chapter 3

When the Fake AH Crew settles on a job to pull, it’s not long until they pull it. Two days after their discussion, Jack and Geoff rallied the troops once more to say that Ruby’s truck was going to be coming through Los Santos that day, and they needed to get into position.

Ryan gleefully handed out masks while Ray’s blood ran cold. No one paid much attention to his inner panic as they were used to the quiet stillness, but Michael could see that there was something just a little bit off as they all left the apartment, Michael armed only with his keys and Ray gripping the heaviest looking sniper rifle Michael had ever seen.

He slowed a bit so that Ray would catch up to him in the hallways. Before he could say anything, however, Ray took one look at his expression and spoke first.

“I can make the shot,” he said. He waved the gun in front of him. “It’ll practically make the shot itself; all I need to do is push a button. And by button, I mean trigger.”  Ray paused. “And by push, I mean pull.”

Michael snorted and rolled his eyes. “Okay, genius,” he said, “but I’m not worried about that. I was going—”

“Good,” Ray interrupted, his voice raising just a hair in pitch and volume. “You don’t need to worry about it. I can make the shot.”

They all got into the elevator together in silence. Ray put all his attention towards breathing naturally. He had no idea if he could make that shot.

Once in the garage, Fake AH went their separate ways, Michael and Ryan going with Geoff, Jack and Ray going in another car to pick up the helicopter, and Gavin by himself in his own vehicle. Geoff handed out ear pieces so that they could all stay in contact and kept his pep talk short.

“Everyone know what they’re doing?” he asked. They all nodded. “Then don’t fuck up,” he finished.

Ray swallowed with difficulty and kept close to Jack. Their silent car ride to the hangar didn’t take much time, but once they were up in the air, they both settled in for the long haul, the only noise between them being the chopper blades and various arguments over the communicators.

Jack started out fairly accepting of the silence, but her earlier fears about Ray surfaces as their hunt dragged on, and after her fifth sneaky glance his direction, she decided to strike up a conversation.

“So,” she said, “Michael says you two are the same age?”

Ray’s initial nervousness came back, prickling behind his eyes. “He’s a few months older than me.”

Jack nodded her head, and there was silence again for a few moments, both of them scanning the freeway.

Ray jostled the gun on his lap, feeling the air whip around him. “What if I can’t make the shot?” he asked quietly.

Jack laughed lightly, startling Ray when he realized he had been heard. “The gun is high-powered enough that it’ll blow the lock for sure. Don’t worry,” she said.

“Comforting,” Ray replied somewhat guiltily, “but not what I meant. What if _I_ can’t make the shot?”

“Well,” Jack said slowly, confused. “You’re the best we have. So, I guess you try again?”

Ray looked back out the open side of the helicopter, his chest tight. “It’s not magic, dude. I mean, it’s kind of magic because I don’t do any of that science physics shit, but some shots are just impossible. So, what then?” There must have been a hitch in his voice, for all the background voices in his ear stopped, involved now by their silence and attention. Jack was looking out the front with her face scrunched up in confusion. Ray gripped the gun tighter, knuckles white against the black.

“What do you think is going to happen, Ray?” Michael asked through the ear piece.

“I don’t know,” Ray lied. “That’s why I asked.”

“Gavin blows up literally everything he touched,” Geoff said, “so if you can’t make it, the same thing that happens to him will happen to you: fucking nothing. Okay?”

Ray exhaled shakily and closed his eyes. “Okay,” he responded.

“I’ve found it, lads!” Gavin exclaimed. “It’s almost near exit 303. Jack, slow down a bit; it’s behind you.”

Jack pulled back and hovered, watching the truck come into view with Gavin not far behind it. Ray raised the gun, watching the sight jolt back and forth with the movements of the helicopter. He let himself be moved around as well, in tandem with the rifle and the blades. He could see the backdoor of the truck, and slowly he could feel the disassociation of his job pull him under.

“Gavin, pull off. If I shank this, it’ll go through the roof of your car.”

“You got it, X-Ray,” Gavin said, and then the purple car veered off to the shoulder quite unceremoniously.

Ray breathed in steadily. Jack didn’t breathe at all, nor had the chatter over the radio return. Jack could see Ray rattling back and forth, the long and heavy gun sticking halfway out the open door. She tried to keep it as steady as she could, but there was only so much she could do when attached to spinning blades.

“I need to get the locking mechanism itself?” Ray asked once more.

“That tiny little box, yeah,” Michael said. “If you hit it first try, it’ll just sound like a rock hit him unintentionally.”

Ray breathed in one final time, slowing his heart rate. “Make the shot, asshole,” he muttered.

Ray pulled the trigger. He inspected his shot through the scope. Then, he put the gun back down into his lap and looked over to Jack.

“Got it,” he said.

“Fucking magic,” Jack laughed.


End file.
